The LNSO’s short biography
The Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO), one of Lithuania’s most important and advanced musical collectives, has been a part of Lithuania’s cultural life significantly enriching it since the Orchestra’s inception. It was founded in 1940 by Balys Dvarionas, in 1964–2015 the Orchestra was led by Juozas Domarkas, and since 2015, Modestas Pitrėnas has served as its artistic director and principal conductor. Robertas Šervenikas is the Orchestra’s second conductor, Juozas Domarkas is the honorary conductor and Victorien Vanoosten – the principal guest conductor.
Having maintained a strong presence in Lithuanian cultural life for 85 years, the Orchestra annually gives around 50 concerts in Lithuania and abroad. It has visited many European countries, Japan, South America, South Korea, etc., and has given concerts in some of the most prominent concert venues of the world, such as Musikverein in Vienna, the philharmonic halls of Cologne and Berlin, and many others. The LNSO has also performed at prestigious music festivals, such as the Schleswig-Holstein, Musica Romantica in Switzerland, the Warsaw Autumn, the Prague Spring, and elsewhere.
The Orchestra has been conducted by important historical personalities including Jonas Aleksa, Mstislav Rostropovich, Krzysztof Penderecki, Christoph Eschenbach, etc.; has collaborated with Monserrat Caballé, Jessye Norman, Emil Gilels, Mūza Rubackytė, Mischa Maisky and Rafał Blechacz; participated in a concert performance of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca with the world’s music stars soprano Vida Miknevičiūtė, tenor Jonathan Tetelman, and bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel; recorded Grażyna Bacewicz’s Concerto for violin and orchestra No. 7 with Polish violin virtuoso Janusz Wawrowski, conducted by Modestas Pitrėnas.
A CD album of historical significance for our country, Amilcare Ponchielli’s opera I Lituani (The Lithuanians, conducted by M. Pitrėnas), released by the record label Accentus Music, has enjoyed international success. In 2025, the Year of Čiurlionis, the vinyl record Back to Nature, released by the prestigious German record label Deutsche Grammophon, won the Opus Klassik award, one of Germany’s most important classical music awards. The LNSO began 2026 with a particularly significant tour at the Warsaw National Philharmonic, where, bidding farewell to the Year of Čiurlionis, Vytautas Bacevičius’ Symphony No. 6 Cosmique (Cosmic) and Grażyna Bacewicz’s Concerto for violin and orchestra No. 7 (soloist J. Wawrowski) was performed.
Alongside the most famous classical repertoire, the ambassador of Lithuanian music actively promotes the Lithuanian composers: regularly appears at the international festival of contemporary music Gaida, premieres the works by Lithuanian composers, participates in recordings, and presents Lithuanian music in Euroradio live broadcasts.
filharmonija.lt
